Power Development Board (PDB) sources said the project director for renovation of the three-unit plant last month sought the power ministry's nod to drop installation of an emergency diesel generator worth Tk 9 crore, and reallocate the same for other purposes.

The diesel generator is a universal device to start up a power plant independently. This is especially required in case of blackouts or national grid failures. Yet, the project director has marked this device as unimportant saying that in case of a blackout, the plant could start up using power from an already started-up power plant connected to the national grid.

But PDB's power experts term this move 'suicidal' for Haripur plant which has already suffered a lot because of gross negligence. One expert pointed out that all power plants should be independently equipped to perform and this standard cannot be compromised.

Sources said the project director has made such a recommendation because the PDB had previously made a mistake in outlining the cost of renovation that was approved by the Ecnec three years back.

The original approval outlines a total cost of Tk 17.16 crore for the renovation. But this amount did not include the cost of opening a letter of credit (L/C) for assigning a contractor for the job. The PDB assigned Japanese company Marubeni Corporation for the renovation work in 2006 and spent Tk 2.29 crore for opening the LC.

Now, instead of explaining this mistake to the government and asking for an allocation for the LC, the project director has chosen to drop the vital equipment like diesel generator.

The three units of Haripur plant were launched in 1987. But ignoring the plant manufacturer's manual, the PDB ran this plant for 16 years without any major overhauling and maintenance.

As a result, all the three units broke down in 2003 and it became very difficult for the PDB to repair and make those operational. Only one out of three units came online last month.

"The plant's manufacturer's manual recommends inspection and maintenance after every 8,000 hours of operation. But the plant officials were absolutely unconcerned about such maintenance, which would have prolonged plant-life, saved public money and would have continued power supply for the last three years."

After the breakdown, the PDB proposed a project to renovate and modernise the plant, which the government approved three years ago. The PDB floated tender for the diesel generator thrice without any positive results.

On June 5, the project director in a letter to the power secretary suggested dropping the diesel generator.

He tried to justify his recommendation saying, "The frequency and chances of a national grid disaster are very insignificant."

The existing diesel generator was used on 12 rounds of national grid failure between 1987 and '97 to successfully start up the plant. Then, between '98 and 2003, the generator failed to start up the plant during seven rounds of grid failure because the level of load shedding was too high, the project director mentioned.

He argued that as there had been no grid failure since 2003, there was no need to have the diesel generator. Diesel generator is required for a short time, and it will remain idle and become out of order, he added.

He explained that in case of a grid failure, Haripur plant may start up using power from another started-up power plant.

Giving these arguments, the project director did not ask the power ministry to lower the project cost. Instead, he noted that the approved project budget mistakenly did not accommodate Tk 2.29 crore as LC opening charge for Marubeni that was awarded the renovation job in 2006. This money was spent from the fund allocated for the diesel generator. As for the rest of the money earmarked for the generator, he suggested this money may be allocated for inland transportation, landing charge, bank charge, freight and insurance.

A power expert of the PDB criticised the project director's suggestion. He says, "If such an argument is accepted, none of our plants should have such generators. Then how would any power station start its operation?

"When we have load shedding of 2,000 megawatt with little chance of improvement of this situation, it is ridiculous to believe that chances of a national grid failure are slim."

The expert further says, "Diesel generators are used for this purpose in power plants only in case of an emergency anywhere in the world. And we don't see how this one will become inoperative due to lack of use when others are functioning for many years.

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